Chaos is not hindered or restricted by laws of reality. It doesn't care about good intentions. When it happens, chaos seldom if ever progresses from 'a little bad' to full blown 'bedlam'. It just explodes and suddenly, painfully, we are thrust into chaos.

Chaos is the first event when a school is attacked.

The military, police, and firefighters devote thousands of hours (if not years) to develop the ability to push through chaos and work through the fear in order to be able to simply function in a chaotic situation.

We can't do that in schools.

We don't have the time and it's not our purpose. Our purpose is to educate kids to be successful in life. Educate comes from the Latin word 'educare' which means to pull out the best qualities of the person. That's our job and the one thing that everyone- society, parents, students…the world is counting on us to accomplish. That's where your focus has to be and where it must remain.

(And for the record, no one should work in such an environment and not also try to pull out their own best qualities as well so work as hard to improve yourself as you do to better your students. In fact, I don't know how you can better your students without first bettering yourself.)

Now, Vince Lombardi was one of the most successful coaches in the history of football. We're going to take a winning play from his playbook, or to be more accurate, a proven approach to success.

Vince was known to make his players practice one play non-stop for as long as 30 days until his team had perfected it. When questioned about his unorthodox approach he simply replied that it's tough to do a good job when you're confused.

If there's one 'play' that we should practice until we have it perfected, it is the lockdown.

The number of rooms that are directly impacted by a school attack is on average 6 rooms or 3% of the entire school. Therefore, a lockdown is the right first action for a school community to take when chaos strikes. Not to run, not to physically fight, but to hide (lockdown). Because the vast majority of the school will not be directly involved in the attack it just makes great sense that we practice this play until we have it perfected because it is the one that most, if not all, will utilize and benefit from.

A lockdown is also the easiest and the most natural for our teachers and students. Everyone can hide and it doesn't take thousands of hours to be able to quickly close and lock a door. We can perfect this play and it won't take 30 days, but as little as 3 minutes.

And…

A lockdown is the first best defense to chaos. In fact, when a school attack starts every action taken by anyone is either an attempt to avoid or to end the chaos. When teachers immediately close and lock their door, that simple but critical action will transfer the initiative from the attacker and give it back to us and no school attack can end until we gain the initiative.

A lockdown practiced and perfected doesn't only save lives, reduce physical harm, and limit emotional suffering…it also helps to end a school attack.

But please don't make the mistake of thinking that safety and academic success are in competition and that you have to sacrifice one for the other. Safety and academic success are no more at odds with each other than academic success and eating. We fold lunch into our daily routine as we should also incorporate our safety and security procedures into who we are and what we do on a daily basis.

It's just part of the day.

Make a lockdown drill a part of your day very soon. Incorporate this invaluable skill and make it a part of who you are and what you do. Don't miss the opportunity as Vince Lombardi might say, "To practice until your people can do a good job."

>>>If you liked the information in this article, then you'll love ACT FAST: Surviving a School Attack with Run, Hide, Fight which helps participants to understand and implement the strategy of HIDE to save lives, reduce physical harm, limit emotional suffering….and to end a school attack.

To find an ACT FAST course in your area, click on this link. If you don't see one, please email or call if you'd like to host a class in your area. It's super easy and you receive free seats for the training.